A car beeps until the driver fastens the seatbelt, and the beeping then stops. Fastening the seatbelt is strengthened by:
APositive punishment
BNegative punishment
CNegative reinforcement
DPositive reinforcement
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. Negative reinforcement
1. Ask first whether the behaviour goes up or down. Buckling up becomes more likely, so this is reinforcement, not punishment.
2. Ask next whether something was added or removed. The annoying beep is taken away, so it is negative.
3. Negative reinforcement removes an undesirable stimulus in order to increase a behaviour, which is exactly what the seatbelt chime does.
4. Students often call this punishment because the beep is unpleasant, but punishment would have to reduce the behaviour.
_Source: OpenStax Psychology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Learning", §6.3 Operant Conditioning_
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